universal collisions book 6
by orkoad2000
Summary: Showdown in bayville Johnny finds himself in bayville, and is beaten to near deth by the foh. The xmen take him in and give him the greatest gift on his birthday.


Universal Collisions  
Showdown in Bayville  
By: John Proft

Disclaimer: Based on characters and situations created and/or owned by Mattel Toys and Marvel Comics.

Johnny jumped to avoid a swing from the still growing, green muscular arm of the hulk and he struggled threw the transformation. Then after a few deep breaths from both Johnny and the hulk, Dr. Banner was gone, and the hulk now stood in his place.  
"Hi there, Hulkster." Johnny said nervously, hoping the hulk wouldn't make a simple arm stretch and send him into a wall. The hulk didn't notice Johnny at first, but then turned and looked him over.  
"Who...you?" hulk asked.  
"I'm a friend buddy, just looking for a place to stay. Why don't you sit down and we can both just relax." the hulk was about to agree, when four men raced around the corner into the alley.  
"Hey, look boy's. I think we found a couple of mutie freaks." Johnny gave the men a closer look and recognized the symbol on their t-shirts.  
"Friends of Humanity." Johnny said angrily. As if an answer the lead man pointed his gun, not at Johnny, but at the hulk. Johnny knew the hulk could break their bones like they were made of tin foil, but he also believed that killing was never an answer.  
"Hulk, Run!" Johnny yelled. The hulk looked at Johnny, confused, and then leapt away, reaching a distance of two miles in one gigantic leap. Johnny knew he couldn't fight four well armed men, so he groaned and waited for them to come, and come at him they did. The leader slammed the butt of his rifle into Johnny's jaw, sending him to the ground. It hurt pretty bad, but Johnny decided it would be better to take the beating, rather than causing more trouble, plus he didn't want them to start searching him. This entire thought raced threw is mind rather quickly, because rather quickly he was rewarded for his nobleness with a kick to the stomach, which was followed by another kick, and then another. He soon realized that not fighting back was a mistake, because they weren't going to just beat him, they were going to kill him. He hoped one of the attackers would kick him once for himself for being so stupid, just before everything went black.

Kitty Pryde and Kurt Wagner were in trouble, they were out after curfew and the Professor wouldn't be to happy with that, let alone Logan and Kurt hated having to take partial blame. Kitty just had to try on everything in the store and when they were finally forced out because the store was closing for the night, Kurt knew he was in for trouble.  
"Why do you always talk me into these things?" Kurt asked angrily. "Not only will the Professor give me a months cleaning duties, but my girlfriend is going to kill me." He said angrily. Kitty just snickered. It was strange to see Kurt angry when in public. His little watch thingy gave him the appearance of a normal teenager, but underneath, he was covered in a blue skin with matching thin fur, three digited hands and feet where there would normally be five, and a long blue pointed tail.  
"Maybe it's just to avoid my cooking." Kitty replied. The words hit Kurt a little hard. She knew for awhile that he hated being her taste tester, and that fact made her push the job on her a little harder. When he had learned the truth from her a few weeks ago, he felt stupid and embarrassed at the same time, and the fact still hurt a little each time he heard it, which helped whenever kitty needed a helper while shopping. Kurt was about to answer when they a tall man stand in front of him. He was tall, and wearing a trench coat, a long pair of sunglasses hid his eyes and his emotions from view. He silently motioned for them to come over to him.  
"Let's go Kitty." Kurt said, not trusting the man at all.  
"Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, please, a man's life is at stake." The two teenagers looked at each other, and then slowly walked over to the man, wondering how he knew their code names.  
"Is there something we can do for you sir?" Kitty asked. The man simply raised a finger across his lips, letting out a quiet " shhh, if you would be so kind Mr. Wagner, please teleport us to that rooftop." Kurt stood there for a moment, the man's presence growing more and more mysterious by the second. Kurt then nodded, and put a hand on the man's shoulder, and his other hand on kitty's. There was a hint of brimstone in the air when the three of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke. They reappeared on the rooftop half a block away. The man then pointed at the alley below. The two children looked over the rooftop's edge, to see four men beating up a fifth man, who was on the ground now. Kitty didn't know who the man being beaten was, but she knew the friends of humanity well enough to know they were no good. Kurt on the other hand seemed to know the man on the ground, but couldn't place him. Kurt was about to teleport and go to help, when the old man stopped him.  
"Not yet my young friend, he's gotten out of harder scrapes than this. Let's just watch for the moment."

Another kick to the stomach hit him hard and woke Johnny from his black out.  
Got to think of something. He thought as he reached into his pocket. There he found little of help, the Ladybug's computer card, his wallet and... a sonic grenade, one of the things he had asked for from Duncan. He wanted them to be ready in case he ever had to fight Venom or Canrnage... but it was the only thing he had. He struggled threw broken bones to pull it out, and with a final grunt, pulled the pin. The grenade immediately howled a high level hum, forcing Johnny, and his four assailants to cover their ears in pain.  
"This freak's done anyway, let's get out of here!" One man yelled out threw the ear splitting noise. When they were out of site, Johnny struggled to sit up and slip the pin back into the grenade, silencing the loud noise. He sat back now, leaning against one wall. Only to find that the wall was gone. Johnny fell backwards, and felt more pain from his broken arm and ribs.  
"Sh!" He said angrily as he spat blood. He eventually gathered enough strength to stand up and look around. It was colder, and he was in a hilly green valley.  
"Great, no building's means no doctors." He groaned as he started walking. After walking along a deep stream for twenty minutes he saw a castle in the distance, with a bridge spanning out over a river that the stream was leading to. He raced towards, the castle, hoping to get some medical attention, when he saw something leaving the castle, threw the air. "You've got to be kidding me." He said as he recognized the man dressed in crimson armor, and matching helmet and purple cape. "Magneto." He wasn't heading for him though; the flying man was more interested with something on the bridge. Johnny noticed now that there was a woman on the bridge; she cradled something in her arms. Then magneto landed, and there was raised voices coming from the bridge, and then the item the women was cradling fell from the bridge into the river below, that's when Johnny could make out the woman's face for a moment, her skin a dark shade of blue that shined in the bright moonlight.  
"Mystek, so than that means..." Johnny said, looking down at the river. Without thinking about his injures, forgetting about the people on the bridge, he raced towards the river. "Hope those four years of swim team paid off!" Johnny said as he dove into the water. Holding his breath, he looked around the dark water, searching for the object that had fallen form the bridge, hoping he hadn't been to late. Suddenly he felt something float onto his head, and drift down behind him. He whirled around in the water and swam down and grabbed whatever had landed on him. Clutching it in his good arm, he fought the pain and lack of air to race to the surface. With a final disparate stroke, he broke threw the calm water surface and gasped for air. quickly he lifted up the object over the water to get a look, and sure enough it was an infant, wrapped in a blanket, it wasn't breathing." he struggled to swim to shore, but he was getting tired, but he wouldn't let that stop him. He leapt out of the water and unwrapped the baby. Its skin two was blue in color, this one a lighter shade with a small tail and a set of three fingers or toes. He ignored all this and felt for a heart beat. He started to panic when he didn't find one.  
"Oh God, no?" he said to no one as he tipped the child's head back, hoping he remembered everything from his C.P.R. classes. He quickly plugged the nose and gently breathed little bit's of breath into the child, then pressed onto the child's chest with his fingers.  
"One, Two, Three, Four, Five." He said aloud as he pressed onto the chest. He breathed into the child again, but this time water leapt from the infants trembling mouth and it began to cry furiously.  
"Oh, thank God!" Johnny said as he pulled off his shirt, to reveal several red spots and cut marks, and wrapped the shirt around the child to act as a dry blanket. Then he wearily stood up, and picked up the still crying baby, and started walking away from the castle. He walked for what felt like hours until he stumbled upon a monastery. He slowly stumbled to the door, set the child down at the doorstep, pulled out his wallet and took three hundred dollars from within it, and set it underneath the crying baby. Then he pulled out a gift that Cidney had given to him. A small cross that hung from a thin chain. He gently slipped the necklace next to the money and kissed the child's head.  
"Good luck kiddo, they'll help you out here." He said as he knocked on the door as hard as he could with the knocker that hung on the door, and then sped away as fast as his injuries would allow. he made sure to watch from around the monastery's corner to be sure that the monk's that lived inside would find the child, when they did, he smiled and continued to walk away from the monastery, happy he was finally able to save a life instead of crewing up like he felt he had been. he sat down and leaned against one of the monastery's wall's, unable to go any farther between the cold water and the injuries, he just could go any farther. he had blacked out before he his the stone wall. What he didn't realize was that the wall he leaned on was now the wall of the back ally he was in before.

Kurt was shocked at what he saw, he didn't know how, but somehow he just saw this man save is life as it happened when he was a child, after being beaten to a bloody pulp. He looked over to Kitty, who was full of tears, then to the man in the trench coat.  
"Who are you?" Kurt asked, feeling angry without knowing exactly why.  
"There are some who know me as Zodak, but perhaps you should save your savior before his injuries end his life." Kurt instantly disappeared, and then reappeared over the unconscious man. He touched the man's shoulder and they both disappeared from the alley, only to once again appear on the roof. Kitty raced over to Kurt, still weeping a little. Kurt looked up to Zodack, wanting more answers, to find that he was gone. There was no time to search for him. He was about to teleport again when he heard something.  
"Kurt, I'm in the Cerebro room, you and Kitty were out of Cerebro's range for a moment, is everything alright?" A voice asked Kurt from no where.  
"Yes Professor, but there's this man here, we.. He's not a mutant, but he...the friends of humanity were attacking him." There was silence for a moment, and then the voice spoke again.  
"I...understand, under the circumstances I think it would be better if you brought him to the institute, Beast can take care of his injuries here, I want you and Kitty to get some rest when you get here, we have the possibility of three new students joining us for the summer, and I need the two of you ready to show them around in the morning."  
"Yes Professor, but this man, he..."  
"I understand your confusion Kurt, but we haven't a moment to lose, the man will need to be brought here immediately."  
"Understood Professor." Kurt said as he dug into his own pocket and pulled out the cross he held with him all his life. Learning at last where he had gotten it.

Magneto passed back and forth within the dark confines of his hideout, awaiting a report from his scout. he turned when there was a pounding at the door. Magneto turned and waived his hand, and the metallic door which separated the room he waited in from the room his followers waited in, floated aside, to see the tall, hairy man step in, an aged and shredded trench coat hung from the man-beast's shoulders.  
"Report, Sabertooth." Magneto demanded.  
"The elf and the kat girl found some human, the F.O.H gave him a pounding, then the elf grabbed him and disappeared." Magneto turned and looked out the hole that lay in the wall, acting as the only window in the room.  
"Taking in stray human's now. Charles, I'm disappointed." magneto said to himself as he turned to face his soldier. "keep watch over the institute, the instant the human comes out, send word, I want the X-men to know that helping humans is nothing but trouble, even if I must cause that trouble."

"How is the boy doing?" The bald man asked his associate in the cozy library room. His associate, a tall, blue furred man with the build of an athletic ape stood there for a moment.  
"His condition has stabilized, but he wasn't just hurt by the Friends of Humanity." The bald man turned away from the window he was looking out of, and a squeak came from his wheelchair.  
"Do tell, Beast."  
"Well, besides the two broken ribs and fractured elbow, he was also suffering from hypothermia, it's like he was swimming a marathon, after his beating." The wheelchair bound man leaned over his desk, deep in thought.  
"Hmm, perhaps Kurt or Kitty may know what happened, but we'll wait until the boy regains conciseness for now. For some reason I can't read his entire mind. I've been able to get little things out of him, his name, his reasons for being beaten by the F.O.H, but where he comes from, nothing. He is a complete mystery, like some unknown force is blocking me.  
"Perhaps he was trained to be able to block mind probes."  
"No, then I would not have even found his name, but it can't be helped now. You'd better prepare for your classes, I'm expecting our new students any time now." The bald man said as he looked threw his desk for the appropriate papers.  
"Yes Professor." beast said as he stepped out the door.

The three teenagers stood inside the main hall of the Xavier's Institute for gifted youngsters, duffle bags in their hands and questions in their minds. They had silently agreed to pile their bags in a corner and sit one some of the furniture that sat on one side of the massive hall. The one boy took one side of the couch, the redheaded girl sat next to him, on the other side of the couch. The other girl, with a light shade of short brown hair, sat across from them, all seemed very nervous.  
"So..." the boy said, nervously. "Let's break the ice here, names Peter Parker."  
"Good to meet you Peter, I'm Janet." the brown haired girl said equally nervous.  
"And I'm Angela, Angela Jones." The red head said in a tone that almost demanded the others to smile.  
"So, what can you do?" Janet asked, hoping she weren't to out of line. Peter was about to answer when he felt a sharp buzzing in the back of his skull. The feeling seemed to be telling him about something from down the hall. There was a sudden crash from down the hall, and Peter looked at the two girls.  
"We'd better take a look; I don't like the sound of that." Peter said as he clipped on two metallic wristbands. The two girls looked at each other, and then followed Peter down the hall.

Peter wondered if it was a good idea to slip his bracelets on in full view of the girls, but he decided to forget about secret identity's. His aunt may was gone, as was the love of his life, Mary Jane, so he had nothing left to protect, and wouldn't second guess himself anymore on such things. As they rounded the corner after what seemed like a two mile jog, he pushed the girls away and dove away from a steel slab coming strait for his last position. Peter stood up an saw a lone figure, blue skinned, with a long blue pointed tail, dodging a brash of laser fire. Peter didn't think, leaping up twelve feel like it was nothing, aimed his palm at a nearby wall, and pressing his two center fingers onto the pressure pad that extended from the metal bracelet to his palm. A thin streak of grey shot out of his wrist and connected with the nearby wall, making the perfect swinging rope. Peter swung to the wall and connected his hands and feet there, which stuck to the wall as if they were the floor. He aimed both wrists at the laser cannons that were shooting at the blue elf, gumming up the canon's causing them to explode. Peter had no time to enjoy his little victory, as a buzzing in his neck warned him of another metal slab flying from the ceiling, heading right for him. he leapt away and landed on another wall, and saw that the entire ceiling was made to crash down on you in sections. Another chunk of ceiling was about to come down again, when it stopped. Peter leapt and swung around and saw the redhead, hovering over the slab, and firing some kind of fire bold at the gears controlling the slab, melting the metal gears together, making it useless. Peter smiled.  
"I owe you one." Peter said, making the redhead blush a little.  
"You owe me six, but who's counting." she said as she pointed behind peter. All the other metal slabs had also been melted down. Peter looked around, looking for the elf. He then landed, and surveyed the damage of the room.  
"I don't like this." he said just before his buzzing returned. Seconds later, six fingers leapt over peters eyes, blinding him.  
"Udentauge." a voice said from behind them. Suddenly the fingers fell off Peter. He turned to find the elf laying on the ground. Then saw what looked like a small bug buzzing around. Before he could get a closer look, the bug grew and grew until it was at full size. Peter was surprised when he saw Janet standing over the elf.  
"Sorry, I panicked when he covered your eyes." Peter smiled as he looked down at the elf.  
"So, who is he?" Peter asked as Angela floated down to join them.  
"His name is Kurt Wagner." A voice said from behind them. They turned to face the bald man as he wheeled over to them from the hall they had entered from.  
"And you are?" Janet asked in a commanding tone.  
"I am Professor Charles Xavier, and the test is over." Peter's eyes widened as he leaned over and attempted to wake the elf.  
"Um, Kurt, sorry about that man. Are you okay?" Peter asked as he helped the sluggish blue man to his feet.  
"Yeah, I didn't expect to be attacked from behind." he said as he rubbed the sore spot.  
"Yeah, that was my bad, sorry, I thought you were attacking Peter and I panicked." Janet said apologetically.  
"Hey, all is forgiven. So who's joining us, Professor?" Kurt asked as he stumbled over to Xavier.  
"All of them, if they so choose." he said, looking over the three new arrival's. Peter didn't know what to think, but knew what to say.  
"I'm in sir, but I don't care for test's that danger people's lives."  
"I'm in too." Angela said immediately. The two teenagers then looked over to Janet.  
"Okay, why not, it's better than living in New York." Janet joked.  
"Splendid. Then Kurt can lead you all to your rooms, unfortunately, living space is scarce, Peter your room will be vacant for the moment, we're expecting another member to join us for a short time, but the girls will have to share a room." Peter looked at the girls, who were eyeing one another, and looked back at the Professor.  
"I think that will work."

Johnny sat up, and was rewarded with pain. He looked over himself and saw the bandages over his rib cage and the sling over his left arm. He then looked over the room. He was what looked like a hospital room. A television hung from the ceiling corner and there were medical machines wired into him. He sighed as he reached for the remote control and turned on the television.  
"And in other news the Incredible Hulk was spotted heading over Nevada after believing to be dead for over six months. General Thunderbolt Ross was not available for comment." Johnny breathed a breath of relief. at least Dr. Banner was back where he belonged, but then he groaned as he remembered that he now knew the basics of why he was abandoned, but there was nothing to be done about it now. So many things had happened in the last year and...Good Lord he thought as he checked his watch, which had the year and month on it. My birthday's next week.  
"Yes it is." A voice said from the door to Johnny's right. A man wheeled in on his wheelchair.  
"How did you...never mind, where am I mister?"  
"you're at my school." the man said kindly threw his calm tone.  
"Your school.. you.. Your' Professor X!" Johnny said in shock.  
"Yes I am, but you seemed to have me at a disadvantage Mr. Springs."  
"Apparently not." Johnny said as he struggled to sit up.  
"I'm afraid so, you see from what I gathered inside your mind, all i could get abut you was your name, but that was it, perhaps you could tell me why." Johnny was dumbfounded.  
"I wish I could sir, I don't know why, maybe Zodack..." Johnny stopped, wondering if he should say anything.  
"Yes, what could you tell me about Zodack, one of our student's encountered him as well." Johnny wondered what that was about, but forgot about it quickly enough.  
"Well, he's someone powerful, someone who would have the power to block you from my mind, but he can't block me from it, I'll tell you anything you want to know within reason."  
"That can wait until your injuries get better, but I do believe one of my student's would like to talk to you. if your up to it." Johnny nodded. Xavier rolled out of the room, nodded to someone who was out of view, then rolled away from view himself. After a moment, two teenagers walked in. the girl looked like a goth, Johnny thought that's what they were called, with brown hair with a streak of white running down the center. the boy was dressed in red and black, with blue skin, three fingers on each hand, two toes on each foot, and a long blue pointed tail that twirled around at random.  
"Hi, kids...what can I do for you?" Johnny asked wearily.  
"Utintaug" the blue boy said nervously.  
"What can I do for you Mr. Wagner?" Johnny asked. Startling the boy for a moment.  
"I am here to thank you." Kurt said in a tone that seemed more and more scared.  
"Thank me for what?" Johnny asked. Kurt said nothing, but pulled out the aged cross necklace.  
"Oh." Johnny said, wondering how he knew.  
"You found out about that huh?" Johnny said as he sat up a little.  
"Yea, and I was just wondering if... well, is there anything you could tell em...us?" Kurt asked, gesturing to his friend. Johnny sighed, and shook his head. Johnny didn't know how much Kurt knew, but he couldn't risk telling him anything.  
"I'm afraid I was just there when things happened, there's nothing I know of that could help you." Kurt sighed, then turned to leave. "But," Johnny said stopping him. "I also grew up not knowing who my parents were, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here, that goes for both of you." Kurt forced a smile, then walked out. Johnny laid back, happy to help someone, but then he looked down at his injuries, and the depression hit him again.

the next day Johnny was well enough to walk around, so it was no surprise to Beast to see Johnny pacing back and forth in his small medical room. Johnny turned and saw him, and jumped alittle, then calmed, as if he recognised him, even though this was the first time he had seen beast.  
"So how are you feeling?" beast asked.  
"Bout the same doc." Johnny said as he sat down on his bed. beast walked over and checked johnny over.  
"Well your well enough to walk around oviously. how would you like to meet some of the students?" johnny lit up, then tried to hide his excitement.  
"That sounds fine

Beast had warned Johnny that most of the students had gone to visit their family's during the summer, but there were still some here so it seemed to be okay with Johnny as he walked down the hall. Never the less Johnny was excited and Beast could tell. As the continued down the hall, the temperature seemed to lower, and after a few moments Johnny could see his breath hanging in the air. Johnny just smiled as he looked at Beast.  
"Let me guess, Iceman, right." Beast groaned, then nodded. they turned the corner and there stood a man, seemingly made out of ice, hurling snowballs at a young girl, who simply stood there, letting the snowball's come towards her. Instead of hitting her, they past right threw her. Johnny's eyes widened a little as Beast cleared his throat quite loudly. The girl looked up and ran up next to Iceman and whispered something into his ear. Iceman immediately let his icy shell flake off to reveal his very human form underneath.  
"That's quite a trick." Johnny said, pretending not to be impressed. "Names Johnny Springs." Johnny said as he held out his hand. Iceman took and shook the hand, a little nervously.  
"Bobby Drake." He said.  
"And I'm Kitty Pryde." She said as she past threw Bobby and took Johnny's hand. Johnny smiled, happy to meet one of his saviors.  
"I understand I have you to thank for saving my life." Johnny said kindly, causing the young sixteen year old to blush.  
"Mr. McCoy, can I show Johnny to his room?" Kitty asked. Beast thought for a moment, then looked to Johnny, who seemed to nod.  
"Alright Kitty, but introduce him to some of the other students first."  
"I will sir." Kitty yelled as she raced down the icy hall, tugging Johnny along with him. Leaving Beast and Bobby in the hall. Beast looked down at Bobby, who gave a mischievous smile.  
"Get Angela to melt all this ice and snow, then you can start mopping." Bobby's smile faded.

"So how long have you been here at the institute?" Johnny asked as they stepped into the hall.  
"Bout a year. Oh here's some of the students, that guy with the red shades is Scott Summers, the red head over there is Jean Grey, you met Kurt and Rouge, then there's Janet, she's a new recruit, along with Peter and Angela." Kitty said in an ascent from the valley which made Johnny snicker a little, then he noticed two of the last names. Janet, PETER!  
"I'm sorry who were those last three?" Johnny asked.  
"Well, Janet is over there, never got her last name, and Peter and Angela aren't here right now."  
"Peter Parker?" Johnny asked.  
"Yeah I think so, how did you know?" Kitty asked.  
"I used to live in New York, and he was a photographer in a big paper over there." Johnny said, hoping the lie would hold up.  
"Well, it's good you know him, cause your bunking with him." Johnny nearly jumped at the thought, but contained himself, hoping no one would notice. Kitty gave Johnny a gentle push and Johnny was forced to introduce himself with the other students. Hitting it off right away with most, especially Kurt and Scott. He wondered why Wolverine wasn't there, him being the only X-men he knew anything more about them than the name, but also remembered his way of being a loner and decided to forget it. They all seemed happy to meet him, but couldn't help feeling like they were all hiding something from him. Well it had gotten late and the students had to hit the sack. Rogue volunteered to lead Johnny to his room and the walk was a quiet one. When they got to Johnny's room, Rogue seemed like she wanted to say something.  
"Hey," Johnny said, forcing Rogue to look up at him. "You ok?"  
"Well...is that invite to talk still open?" She asked. Johnny smiled and nodded, forcing Rogue to smile. "Not now, it's late, maybe tomorrow." Rogue said as she glanced her gloved hand across Johnny's cheek, and walked away. Johnny stood there for a moment, watching her walk down the hall and out of site, dumbstruck. He shook any thought's he was having away.  
Wake up Johnny, you got to find the ladybug. Johnny said as he walked into the room. The massive bedroom was empty, two beds stood on either side of the room, with dressers next to either one, he noticed one had some discarded clothing on it so he sat down on the bed across from it and pulled out the computer card. Tapping the small button on it, he became frustrated when nothing happened.  
"Great." Johnny said as he slammed it onto the dresser. That's when Johnny happened to look up and see a teenage boy, maybe a year younger than him, hanging from the ceiling, in nothing but his underwear.  
"Oops, sorry Pete, I should have knocked first." Johnny said as he covered his eyes, waited for the boy to jump down and get some clothes on. Johnny waited for the all clear, then opened his eyes again.  
"How did you know my name?" Peter asked as he walked over.  
"The Prof told me, but I suspected you were Spider-man for some time, I used to live in New York and no one could take that many pics of the web head that often." Peter groaned. Johnny and Peter started talking about several things, chatting away till 2 am, about all sorts of things, and Peter was the first person Johnny openly told about where he really came from. The two became fast friends, perhaps best friends and made Johnny's road to recovery that much faster.

A week and come and gone with no problems, that made Johnny worry more than anything else, because wherever Johnny was sent, there was always a problem, but he was tired of worrying about the super villain of the week, and the students were too, they proved this to Johnny when they more or less forced him to take them to the mall, once at the mall, all the kids seemed to disappear, except for kitty who seemed to drag him into the women's clothing store. Johnny was sure Kurt was happy to not be Kitty's personal assistant any more. He groaned as Kitty dragged him into the store.  
"I don't suppose there's anything I could say to get you to go to the toy store instead?" Johnny asked, half serious.  
"Not unless you like barbi?" Johnny stood there for a moment, pretending to think about it. "Come on you bum." She said as she took him by the good arm and dragged him into the store.

Meanwhile, Angela, Peter and Bobby were wandering the mall together, on what they felt was kind of a mission, but they would have done had they the chance on their own anyway.  
"Now remember gang," Peter said, feeling like a leader of sorts," It's got to be small and represents us." Peter said as he recognized a Spider-man key chain dangling from a nearby toy store.  
"And I think you just found it Pete." Angela said as she noticed what he had.  
"Why did Johnny think the three of us looked like a good team?" Bobby asked. As he walked up to the collection of key chains for sale and looked them over.  
"Dunno, but he said we could be called the Spider-friends." Angela said as she leaned up against Peter playfully, causing the boy to blush.  
"The Spider-friends!" Bobby said jokingly, "What about the frosty three?" The three laughed hard.  
"So, you think up a code name yet Angel?" peter asked, calling her by her normal nickname.  
"I have, and I kind of like the name Firestar, and the idea of the Spider-friends."

"THIS IS A STICK UP!" One of four masked men yelled as he fired his semi automatic into the air, causing an ocean of screams and cries. Kitty was right in the middle of it, trying to buy some clothes at the time, but Johnny wasn't. He had noticed some hat's and ski masks and had promised to catch up with her before the gunshots rang out. Johnny popped his head around the display wall to get a good look at the four masked men, and then he noticed they all wore ski masks. Then looked back at the ski masks on the display wall, and then felt for his gun, forgetting that he had left it at the mansion. He groaned as he slowly took his arm out of his sling. He bent it back and forth at the pain of moving it, then grabbed one of the ski masks and ripped off the tag. "It's still hurtin' but it will have to do." Johnny said as he pulled on the ski mask and let himself disappear within the sea of clothing.

"No one moves and no one gets hurt?" The gun wielding man said angrily as he took a burlap sack out from his pocket and flung it at Kitty.  
"Fill it up with the money kid!" The masked man said. Kitty stood there, burning a hole in the man's eyes with her own.  
"DO it or I start shootin!" The man yelled, pointing the gun at an elderly couple. Kitty slowly walked around the register and started putting the money into it, but when she looked up, the leader was gone. She looked around, and saw the other three masked men were just as baffled. Then suddenly a second man had been pulled to the floor by some unseen force. The other two started to look at one another, when a clothing hanger came flying from nowhere, hitting him right between the eyes, forcing him to stagger there for a moment before recovering, but then the hanger was followed by a boot, which sent the man to the ground hard. The last man looked around, but wouldn't risk his own . He leapt over the counter and held Kitty at gunpoint.  
"Okay mother fer, show yourself or the girl gets a bullet shower!" the man said with a panicky voice. Just then he felt a tapping on his shoulder. The man turned around to see a man in a black mask, different to the blue ones they had been wearing, with a very angry look on his face.  
"Using innocent people as shields, that makes me a mad panda." The man joked as he flung his fist hard into the criminal's face, the man hit the ground hard and the black masked man hurled him over his shoulder, wincing in pain as he did so, and carried him over to the three bound and gagged men that were hidden behind some clothing displays, there weapons laying in a pile five feet away. He then faced the shocked people who still shook a little from their painful ordeal.  
"Later all." The man said as he raced out the front door and threw the mall to its exit, and continued running.

"And then he just ran out like he had done it a thousand times before." Kitty said to her friends as they drove down the deserted road towards the mansion.  
"And how did you loose Johnny in all this?" Peter asked.  
"I don't know, he was just gone after it all, and..." Just then Scott slowed the car down as he saw someone walking down the road. As they slowed down they noticed it was Johnny. He had a nervous smile on his face as he waved to them.  
"Heh, goin' my way?" He asked nervously.

When the students entered the mansion, the Professor rolled into the main hall, noticing Johnny walkin' in without his sling and cradling his injured arm.  
"What happened Scott?" The professor asked.  
"Well, some guys tried to hold up the clothing store at the mall while we were out..." Kitty and Rogue interrupted Scott.  
"And Johnny kicked there asses!" They both said together. Johnny stopped and turned to face the others when he heard that.  
"Now wait, you guys don't know it was me, I had bolted the second I heard gun fire." Johnny said, trying to maintain his cover.  
"Oh yeah, than what's this?" Rogue asked as she pulled the ski mask from his back pocket. Johnny groaned in defeat.  
"Ok, so I shoplifted, I'm not proud of it but..." This time the Professor interrupted.  
"That's enough Johnny, why can't you just admit to being a hero?" Xavier asked.  
"Because whenever I do, people get hurt." Johnny said as he snatched the mask from Rogue and stormed off. Scott, the Professor and the girls all looked at each other, all in shock.  
"What brought that on?" Kitty asked.  
"I don't know, but I think we should continue as planned, it may be good for him." the Professor replied, feeling pity for the weary human who he took in one week ago.

Today was the day, June 8,1996, Johnny's birthday, and no one knew except for the Professor. He groaned as he got up from bed, took a shower, (surprisingly the bathroom was not crowded with a line behind the door) got dressed, made his bed and walked down to the kitchen for breakfast. Just as he began to wonder where everyone was, he found a note on the refrigerator door, held there by a magnet.  
"The gang went to the beach, be back around one, later, Jean." Johnny sighed. He never really like the beach anyway, too much sand. He opened the fridge door and pulled out a root beer. When he closed the door and turned towards the window, there was a man there, making Johnny jump. The man wore a flannel shirt, and cowboy hat, and held a toothpick in his hand. Johnny guessed it was Wolverine, and made himself calm down a little.  
"Good morning sir." Johnny said a little nervously.  
"Mornin kid, how's the arm?" The grizzled man asked with a voice that sounded like a bears.  
"Little better, last night didn't help it any." Johnny replied as he took a sip from his root beer.  
"Yeah, I heard about that, nice work kid." Johnny was a little surprised, the great Wolverine complementing him.  
"Thanks sir." Johnny said, feeling like he was back in school.  
"Don't call me sir, kid, the names Logan." Johnny snickered.  
"You drop the kid and we got a deal, the names Johnny." Johnny said lifting his injured hand, Logan took the hand and shook it firmly.  
"Nice to meet ya." Logan replied as he turned and opened a drawer and pulled out a small package and handed it to Johnny, "and happy birthday." Johnny looked at the wrapped box and back at Logan, not knowing how he knew. Then tore open the package and lifted out the Swiss Army Knife with a metallic "X" on the side.  
"I... I don't know what to say, thank you." He said.  
"Just don't get all sappy on me ok, the Prof said to keep it small, says you travel a lot." the Professor, of course. Johnny nodded and tipped his bottle to Logan as he walked out of the room, trying not to act "sappy".

Since Johnny had the mansion to himself he decided to write a few letters, hoping he would be able to some how deliver them to Alena and Cidney, he wrote to Alena first, basically promising to return to her some day, the letter he wrote to Cidney was a little harder to write, he had basically said that he knew she was still alive, and that he knew they would probably not see each other ever again, and that if she were to ever fall for someone, that it would be ok with him, he even came clean about his own relationship with Alena. As he was closing the letter, he felt tears well up in his eyes, staining bits of the letter. He quickly wiped them away as he sealed both letters in separate envelopes.  
"Penny for your thoughts." A voice said behind him. Johnny jumped to see Zodack there behind him.  
"You sent me to the past didn't you?" Johnny asked angrily.  
"No, but I knew it would happen, and took precautions to insure your survival afterwards, but that's not why you wanted me here." Johnny stopped...did he want him here he wondered. Well it didn't matter.  
"I suppose not, can you deliver these?" Johnny asked, handing Zodack the sealed letters. Zodack nodded and walked down the hall. Johnny turned and sat back down at his writing spot, trying to piece his thoughts together, when he heard something, like a popping puff noise, and then there was that smell, like brimstone. Johnny turned around, and poked his head around the corner. There was Kurt, trying to be discreet as he reached into the hall closet and pulling out some streamers. Johnny was tired of secrets and walked out into the hallway.  
"Hey Kurt." Johnny said as if nothing was going on.  
"Ah, unintaug Johnny." He said nervously, quickly slipping something behind his back. "Vat's going on?" He asked.  
"I was going to ask you that, where has everyone been all day?" Johnny asked.  
"Um, at the mall." Ah ha, gotcha, Johnny thought.  
"Funny, Jean's note said you guys were all at the beach." Kurt hung his head in shame.  
"I can't say just stay here until 6 ok?" without waiting for an answer, Kurt disappeared, the stink of brimstone the only evidence that he had been there at all.

Johnny lay in his bed all day, wondering what his friends had in store. He honestly had no idea because he had never had any friends before all his travels. At 6:20 Peter and Angela had knocked at the door. Johnny walked over and opened it to see there happy faces staring back at him.  
"What's up guys?" He asked. "Well, the Professor wanted to see you in the danger room." Johnny smiled, Kurt must not have told them that he had spotted him.  
"Ok, where has everyone been today?" Johnny asked, truly wondering.  
"Dunno, we went to a movie this morning." Angela said with a witty voice.  
"Did you now?" Johnny asked, happy that peter was able to love again after what he had been told about why peter had left New York. It was a long walk from the bed rooms to the danger room, and when they finally reached the danger room, it was extremely dark.  
"Um, hello?" Johnny called out to the large dark room. "Ok what the hell is going on here?" Suddenly the doors closed behind him, cascading the room in total darkness. Suddenly the lights flashed to life, all his friends from the institute stood in the center of the room, behind a table which held a pile of small packages wrapped in decretive colors and an enormous cake.  
"SURPRIZE!" they all said at once. Johnny was flabbergasted with it all, not sure how to take it all in. he walked over as all the students raced over to him, holding him in a massive embrace, all except rogue, who was afraid to accidentally touch someone. Johnny smiled at all the attention until he saw rogue's sad look. Once the hug was over, Johnny walked over to Rogue and hugged her himself, making sure not to touch any part of her flesh. She smiled, held her hand over his mouth and kissed it.  
"That's fer being there for all of us." Johnny looked around, and realized all the girls had the same feelings, even storm gave him a small peck on the cheek. Johnny blushed as they chanted for him to open his presents. One by one Johnny ripped off the wrapping and opened each box. Janet had given him a game boy, and a key chain with a ladybug at the end. From Bobby an empty journal and a key chain with a block of plastic ice at the end. From Rogue a camera with film, which was emptied by the end of the night and a key chain with an old style bell at it's end. From Scott a photo album and a key chain with a pair of miniature sunglasses. Beast had given him a book of poems and works from Shakespeare and a chain with a rabbit's foot at the end. From Storm an hand held organizer and a lightning bold connected to a key chain. Peter had given him a bundle of games for the game system, and a Spider-man key chain. Kitty had given him a "He-man" action figure, a sheet of stickers and a key chain with a miniature kitten at the end, which surprised Johnny, who had no idea they had He-man on that world. Jean gave him some CD's and a key chain with a miniature plastic brain at it's end. Angela had given him a CD player and a key chain with the saying "Hot stuff" on it. Kurt gave him a necklace just like the one he had given to Kurt, and a key chain with a pick fork at the end. Before opening the last gift he looked up at the Professor.  
"What's with all the key chains?"  
"I knew you won't be able to stay with us forever, that much I did get from reading your mind, but I also knew that you would want something to remember all your friends by, so I asked them all to get a key chain that would remind you of each of them, some were a little more inventive than others, but I think you will have a hard time forgetting where each one came from." Johnny nodded as he looked down at the last unwrapped present. A key chain with an "X" hung from the ribbon. He ripped it off and slipped it into his pocket, and ripped away at the package, and stepped back at its contents.  
"You...are you serious!" he asked in shock.  
"Yes indeed, you may not be a mutant, but you have become as much a member of this family as any of us, and it would be childish to not invite you here just because your not a mutant, plus we all know that you can handle yourself in any fight, weather it against magneto or some gun toting fools, it would be against the very idea of humans an mutants living in peace demands this, I've talked it over with the students and they all agree that you have what it takes." Johnny looked around at all the smiling faces, never feeling more happy in all his life.  
"Thank you all." Johnny said with tears in his eyes as he pulled out the multicolored uniform from its box, Johnny Springs was now an X-man.

Todd Talanski tip-toe'd into the trashed, beaten down house that was the headquarters of "The Brotherhood", hoping his partners weren't in or didn't care about what he has seen. Since the house was silent he decided that no one was there and sighed in gratitude. Suddenly there was a pounding, coming from the path he just took, the foot steps of someone big. Without thinking, he dove into the closet and peered out the key hole. The houses front door flew inward in a shower of splinters and loose wood, to reveal a man encased in metal, walking casually into the dying building. He was followed by a thinner man, wearing a long brown overcoat and a pear of burning red eyes.  
"There be no one here, boss," the cajen said in a disappointed tone. Then a third man floated in, his crimson helmet and body armor shining from underneath the purple cape.  
"Very well gentlemen, return to the camp, we will attack the institute without the Brotherhood's help." The caped man said as he floated off. The metallic man followed quickly, the red eyed man almost followed, until he heard something. He stopped, and slowly wandered the building's first room, edging closer towards the closet. Todd shook in fear as he hoped the man wouldn't open the door. The man's fingers slowly grasped the closet's doorknob and it slowly began to turn.  
"Gambit, let's go." The crimson dressed man called from outside the house. Gambit gave the closet door a final gaze, and then raced out the hole where the entrance once was. There was silence for the longest time, Todd was to afraid to breath. After a few moments. He slowly began to breathe again. He hated himself for a lot of things he had done over the years. He was tired to hating himself; it was time he paid summers back for all those times he saved his life back before he joined the brotherhood. He turned the closet doorknob anlittle, opened the door a crack and peered outside. No one there. He leapt out and dove threw the nearest open window, bound for the Xavier institute.

Johnny was in his room reading a book when there was a knock at the door.  
"It's open." Johnny said aloud, not looking up from his book as Janet walked into the room.  
"You care if I hang out in here for a while?" she asked as she sat on Peter's bed.  
"Na, no problem, why aren't you in your own room though." Johnny asked.  
"Because Angela is in there with Peter." Johnny snickered at the thought for a moment before returning to his book. Suddenly there was another knock, but this one came from the outside window. Johnny turned to see a strange face peering down at them. Johnny quickly opened the window, letting the strange frog like man, hop into the room. Johnny decided to keep the window open because of the smell.  
"Who the hell are you?" Johnny asked.  
"Names Toad, now I gotta talk to Summers." Toad said quickly as he plowed threw the door and leapt down the hall. Johnny groaned as he raced into his dresser draw and pulled out his blaster.  
"Johnny, no, find him, but don't hurt him." A voice said from inside his head.  
"Alright Professor, but get everyone else together, I don't like this." Johnny replied to the voice as he pulled out his blaster holster and raced out the open doorway, the two inch tall Janet bussing behind.

"We cannot wait any longer, storm the mansion, no one is to be harmed, I want all the prisoners you can collect, including Xavier, leave the human, or kill him, I don't care which." Magneto called out to his followers. Is acolites simply turned and raced towards the building, looking forward to the attack for some time.  
"Your plan will fail." A voice said from behind magneto.  
"Not with you and your associate on my side." Magneto said to the man who stood behind him. The man was dressed all in black, with what looked like veins wrapping around his costume in every area, even his face, and he long brown hair fluttering in the afternoon winds.  
"Perhaps, but I doubt your victory even with my help." Magneto turned and faced the man, anger in his eyes now.  
"Is there something you wish to tell me, Kaine?" Magneto asked angrily.  
"I request only an incentive, when this is over, the Parker boy is mine." Magneto rubbed his chin, pondering the idea.  
"Very well, but if you fail me..."  
"If we fail it will not be from my hand." Kaine interrupted as he stepped down the hill towards the institute.

Johnny was tired of running. He stopped, took aim and fired his blaster an inch past toad, making a small crater in the wall ahead of him and singing toads hair.  
"If you want to talk to summers you can talk to me, what the hell is going on?" Johnny demanded.  
"It's like this, magneto's gonna attack this place, like now." Suddenly the building shook and a tall metallic figure stood in a huge crater on the other side of the long hallway. Johnny trembled as he realized that this world was truly different than the one he read about.  
"RUN!" Johnny ordered as the three teenagers raced down the hall. As the metal man walked down the hall, Peter and Angela opened the door from Angela's room and poked their heads out.  
"HOLY CRAP?" Peter said as he leapt onto the wall outside the hall and scurried away, Angela flying close behind. The metal man was about to follow when a red beam caught him off guard from behind.  
"You wanna rumble metal head, try it with me." Cyclops said as he fired another optic blast. This one whoever, didn't even phase the metal man as he stocked forward. Then catching Cyclops completely off guard by running up to him and slapping him hard in the face, launching him threw a wall and knocking him out. The metal man then bent down and picked up the red eyed teenager effortlessly. He lifted one arm and spoke into the wrist watch he wore.  
"This is Colossus, one man captured."

"All X-men to the war room immediately!" Xavier said as fast as he could think it as he played the keyboard in front of him like a piano. Suddenly the wall behind him collapsed and a tall, strong man walked in, encased in an orange and red metal that looked thicker than tank armor.  
"Hiya chuck" The man said as he slowly stalked closer.  
"Kaine, is that you?" Xavier asked in shock.  
"Sorta, see, I'm the Juggernaut alright, but I'm from another reality, just like your human buddy." Juggernaut said with an evil laugh as he viciously ripped Xavier from his chair and simply shook him into unconsciousness. He then looked down at his watch.  
"I got the cripple."

Kitty, Kurt and Rogue ran fast as Gambit chased after them, flinging cards left and right. The teenagers dodged fast as each card exploded on impact. Then all hope faded as they reached a dead end. Kurt was about to teleport the three of them away, then an entire deck load of cards flew into the ceiling, catching Nightcrawler off guard as they exploded, causing the ceiling to collapse. When Gambit caught up to them and cleared away the recage, he counted two, the third girl must have gotten away some how he thought as he looked down at Rogue.  
"Dis be for your own good, pati" He said as he scoped her up. Then he looked down at his watch. "I got the streak and the elf." he said as he then scooped up Kurt and walked off, not noticing Kitty as she poked her head out from threw the wall.

Magneto was pleased with the way things were going. Sabertooth had come out carrying Storm over one shoulder, and a jar in the other which held a two inch woman with wings inside it. Juggernaught had returned as well, carrying Xavier over one shoulder. Gambit and Pyro were just now coming up the hill, with they're prisoners; Beast, Kurt and Rogue. Kaine was the last one and he knew he would not fail.

A fire had broken out within the main hall, Pyro's work no doubt, and Jean was doing all she could to contain it. She smiled when she saw Johnny, Peter, Angela, Bobby and Toad racing down the stairway. Her smile disappeared when she was backhanded from behind, sending her to the ground, unconscious. Johnny and Peter looked up at the attacker, and Johnny froze.  
"Who the hell are you!" Peter asked angrily.  
"You'll find out." The man in black said as he picked up Jean and raced out of the building. Peter was about to follow when Johnny stopped him.  
"Peter, there's no time. Bobby, put the fire out now!" Johnny ordered. Bobby nodded and raced towards the fire. Johnny turned to Angela and Peter. "I know you guys want to go now, but we need to make a plan, Angela, find Logan, tell him to follow them without being seen and come back when they get to their hideout." Angela nodded and flew off.  
"Peter, get your costume on, we meet in the war room in twenty." Peter nodded and leapt from wall to wall to move as fast as possible. Johnny then turned to toad, who had a nervous look.  
"You, war room, now!" Johnny ordered. Toad didn't ask questions, he just leapt to the war room like a bat out of hell.

Logan had just returned from a bar after a few beers, with his healing factor, he couldn't ever get drunk so it was no problem, but as he was about to enter the mansion, he sniffed the wind, and three metallic claws leapt out from the back of his hand.  
"Sabertooth." suddenly, Angela floated over to him from inside the mansion.  
"Johnny says to follow them and get back when you found their base, they've captured almost everybody." Wolverine took another whiff, there was more than one, two scents however he didn't recognized.  
"Who put Johnny in charge?" wolverine growled.  
"No one, but he's the only one who's shown any anishative since this happened." Logan nodded as he lit up a cigar and started running.

The six teenagers lounged around the war room, waiting for Wolverine's return. He had been gone for two hours and Johnny never liked to wait.  
"How much longer?" Toad asked. As he hung from the ceiling.  
"What do you care, why are you even here?" Kitty asked angrily.  
"Because he tried to warn us about this, and as much as I hate to admit it, we're gonna need him." Johnny said as he looked at the scratch marks on his left thigh. Sabertooth had caught Janet relatively quickly and tried to take a piece out of him as well. He winced as he tried to walk over to one of the small computer screens that ran across the edge of the room. Kitty groaned as she reached into one of the top cupboard and took out a roll of bandages. She walked over to Johnny and whirled his chair around to face him. Johnny looked at her, confused, not seeing the bandages at first.  
"Come on you idiot, you can't go anywhere without having those cut's wrapped." Johnny wanted to argue, but didn't like the look she was giving him, and nodded, letting her clean down and wrap the fresh injury. Just then Wolverine raced into the room, lifting an eyebrow when he noticed Kitty wrapping the bandages around Johnny. Johnny gave a nervous chuckle.  
"Your buddy Sabertooth took a chunk out of me." Wolverine said nothing, but walked over to the center table. He pressed a button in the center, revealing a 3-d map.  
"The acolite's took our friends to an abandoned wrestling arena outside the city limits." He said, pointing to a small building on the map.  
"Hey, I know that place. Me and Lance used to hang out there after the Brotherhood started." Toad said, hoping it would help.  
"Don't care Toad, your not comin', your goin' to a detention center, care of Nick Fury." Johnny stood up, shocked at Logan's words, but didn't let it show as he stood up, not letting Kitty finish the bandaging. He silently walked up to Logan and punched him in the face. Logan looked up, rage burning.  
"WHAT THE HELL GIVES YOU THE RIGHT! Fury will just throw away the key and let the kid rot, he sacrificed everything to try to warn us and you want to just turn your back on him."  
"He's our enemy, we should get rid of him and be done with it." Wolverine howled back.  
"NO, we have no right to take this kid and throw him away before he's even had a chance. He will come with us, weather your with us or not." Johnny said with a passion.  
"I'm with him." Kitty said as she stood up and walked up next to Johnny.  
"Me too." Peter said from his perch on the side of the wall.  
"Me three." Bobby added.  
"We all are." Angela said. Wolverine looked up at Toad, who had a sympathetic look. Wolverine growled again.  
"Fine." He said under his breath.  
"Good, now that that's out of the way, I got a plan." Johnny said as he began to go over it with everyone.

Johnny, Wolverine, and Toad stood outside the building's main entrance, ready for anything. When nothing happened, he gestured to Logan.  
"Make the door Logan." Johnny said evenly. Three claws immediately protruded out from either hand and Wolverine screamed with rage as he clawed away at the door. After 10 seconds, a massive gaping hole hung in the center of the wall and the three allies slowly walked into the building. Cobwebs and dust filled the room, which looked like a stadium's concession's stand. Wolverine took a whiff and coughed.  
"This dust is too thick, I can't filter threw it." Johnny thought that might be a problem, but would still need him.  
"Which way Toad?" Johnny asked.  
"That way, towards the ring." Johnny led the way towards the center of the building. When he pushed the swinging doors open, he stood in shock. All his friends sat in a circle around the ring, all wearing a flashing collar around their neck's. The three of them raced down and Johnny was about to remove the collar from Rogue's neck when a voice boomed out from the PA system.  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, were you to try, it will explode, and one explosion will force the others to blow up as well." Toad pointed to an announcer's box at the top of the seating. Johnny whispered something into Toads ear as the voice spoke.  
"Toad, attack them at once." the voice said.  
"Screw you man, I'm with them now chrome dome." Toad replied, shocking Johnny and Wolverine.  
"Very well." the voice said as Magneto's acolite's stepped into the stadium and into the ring.  
"Here is my offer boy. You will battle my warriors one by one, if you win, your friends will go free, if you lose, or use any weapons in your defense, they and you will die, and if Wolverine or Toad interfere, they will also die." Johnny signaled to Toad and he hopped off towards the exit. The voice chuckled as he hopped off.  
"He was always a fearful creation, well do you accept?" Johnny looked over to Wolverine.  
"I DO."

Iceman, Firestar and Spider-man, all in full costume, cautiously navigated threw the series of tunnels underneath the stadium, hoping they could get to Johnny or help in some way in time. Peter was about to turn the corner when his spider sense buzzed like wildfire. He pushed Firestar and Iceman out of the way as a massive fist flung itself towards the trio. Peter looked up to see the man in black, his veins pulsing like they were a part of you. He felt his spider sense ring out again but wasn't able to move in time. The man's hand clasped itself around spider-man's neck and lifted him off the ground. Suddenly he screamed in pain as he found himself incased in a block of ice. The shock forced him to release Spider-man. Spidey landed on his feet and looked into the man's eye's, finding something that almost looked familiar. Then he looked up at his team mates.  
"Let's go." Spidey said as he led the way. Moments past. The man in black sat in place for a moment, frozen in place, then gave a scream and broke threw the ice, shattering it to bits, but it made little difference, he had been beaten.  
"There will be another time, Spider-man, you and your friends have not seen the last of Kaine."

Johnny stood in the ring, face to face with the man named Pyro. Johnny took a deep breath and stepped into a fighting stance. Around the same time, the imprisoned X-men began to awaken from there sleep.  
"What's going on?" Xavier asked.  
"Your boy Johnny's fightin' unarmed against the acolites." Xavier looked up in horror.  
"Kick his Johnny!" a voice said next to him, and Xavier turned to see Kitty cheering him on, not at all afraid for him.  
"Wish I had that much confidence in me." Johnny said aloud as he prepared for the battle. Pyro wasted no time, firing two blasts of fire at Johnny. Johnny dove to the right, avoiding one blast, but getting hit in the shoulder with the second. Johnny quickly slapped the flame out and tore the t-shirt and pants off to reveal his x-men uniform underneath.  
"Blymy?" Pyro said in shock.  
"Yeah I know, I'm no Captain America, but guess what fire butt, it's flame retardant." Johnny said sinisterly as he pulled over a face mask, complete with one way glass eye pieces. Pyro fired at Johnny again, full blast this time, but Johnny simply walked threw it and punched the fire fanatic hard in the jaw.  
"HOW DARE YOU!" Magneto said angrily threw the intercom. "HOW DARE YOU PRETEND TO BE A MUTANT!"  
"I'm not pretending to be a mutant metal head, I am an X-man!" Johnny said as he flung Pyro's limp body out of the ring.  
"You won't be so lucky with me boy." A voice said behind Johnny. Johnny turned and saw Gambit there, fluttering a deck of cards in his fingers. Johnny once again, readied in battle stances.  
"Let's go gumbo."

Magneto had had enough, if Gambit couldn't beat the human himself, than he would send all his forces on the boy at once. He growled in anger as he stepped out of the room. He didn't notice something outside above the doorway. When Magneto was out of view, Toad leapt down and crept into the room.  
"Oh man, I wish I knew what I was doin'." He said to himself as he looked over the massive panel of buttons and switches. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming back, and leapt out of view as Magneto stepped back into the room.  
"Perhaps I should end this little war we battle in, Charles." Magneto said aloud as he hulled the small machine from his belt. He was about to press the large red button along side the smaller green button. Suddenly a long green tentacle wiped past Magneto's hand at rapid speed. The crimson man looked up to see Toad with a nervous smile, waiving with one hand, and slipping the remote machine into his back pocket. Before anything else could be said, Toad leapt out the door at top speed.  
"Come back here with that you foolish amphibian!" Magneto yelled as he raced after him.

"Ya know we don't have to do this." Johnny said as he dodged card after exploding card.  
"It's not that easy." Gambit replied as he sputtered a flurry of cards at Johnny. Johnny dove underneath the river of flaming cards and rolled towards Gambit. Straitening out, he sent Gambit to the ground with a sweep kick. He lept up and waited for gambit to stand up.  
"Gambit I know you don't want to do this." Johnny said as Gambit stood.  
"Perhaps, but we all do what we must." Gambit said as he pulled a collapsible staff from his inside pocket. The staff extended in his hand and he prepared for the coming battle.  
"Oh boy." Johnny said as he readied himself for battle once again. The staff twirled, and Johnny ducked. Gambit swung again, Johnny jumped over it. Gambit swung a third time. This time it hit him hard in the ribs. Sending him to his knees. Gambit was about to hit him again over the head, but didn't.  
"Give up boy, you can't save them, you're only human." Johnny looked up at the cajin, fire burning in his eyes. Johnny clasped both fists together and swung them hard into gambit's face, sending him to the ground.  
"GUESS WHAT GUMBO, SO ARE YOU, BEING A MUTANT...being a mutant doesn't mean we're different species. I am giving you one last chance, join us or so help me, I will beat you to a bloody stump, and after the &$ you've said I would have no problem doing it." Gambit sat up and rubbed his bruised head. Gambit then looked over to Rogue, who still sat in her chair.  
"Gambit not always right, and maybe this be one of those times, but maybe you a bein' right this time." Gambit said as he stood up.  
"Return that or I'll have your head you troublesome frog!" A voice hollered from above. Everyone looked up and saw Toad leaping down as fast as he could, remote in hand. Johnny then notice a massive metallic file cabinet fly from out of the announcers podium and fly strait for toad.  
"Toad, look out!" Johnny yelled. Toad looked up and saw the object hurtling towards him and flung the remote to Johnny.  
"Hit the green button man!" toad said just before the cabinet plowed into his side, and colliding into a wall. Johnny reached for the remote, but gambit caught it first. Johnny looked down at the remote, then at magneto, then at rogue, and without a word, he pressed the green button.  
"NOOOOOO!" Magneto yelled as the collars fell off one by one. Sabertooth and Colossus leapt onto the ring, ready to battle, when there was a crash at the nearby wall. Johnny turned, and his jaw dropped.  
"Remember me boy." Juggernaut asked as he stepped threw the trashed wall, "Think it's funny to leave me in a hole in the ground half a galaxy away?" Juggernaut added as he stepped forward, the ground trembling as he closed in on Johnny. Johnny pulled his blaster and fired at juggernaut's chest, but the blast ricochet off and hit a nearby wall, vaporizing it.  
"Oh sh." Johnny said as he backed away. Juggernaut suddenly charged, backhanded Johnny hard, sending Johnny sailing into the stands. Wolverine, meanwhile, had freed Professor X, Beast and Rogue, when Rogue had spotted Johnny flying threw the air. She raced up the stairs and leapt across a higher row of chairs, catching Johnny as his unconscious body sailed towards her. When Johnny's body impacted, his had glanced across rogue's face, and it happened, rogue's power kicked in. Johnny's skills, agility, and memories slipped out from Johnny's mind, and into Rogue's, and suddenly so many of Rogue's questions had been answered. She set Johnny down in a vacant chair, and let the memories flow for a moment. Then she grew angry at Juggernaut. She raced down the stairs and leapt over the barrier. Before anyone could stop her, she touched Colossus and held on for a moment, zapping enough from him to have his powers. She immediately let the metallic skin close over her and leapt into the ring.  
"Ya'll wanna try that with me?" Juggernaut laughed hard.  
"You wanna die to huh little girl." he said with a chuckle. Rogue growled as she charged into Juggernaut, catching him completely off guard and toppling him over. Juggernaut laid there, still shocked, and Rogue raced around him and griped her fingers around the edge's Juggernaut's helmet. Juggernaut stood up now, but Rogue didn't let go, and with a final yank, the helmet flew off, back towards the hole the Juggernaut had made. Rogue turned now.  
"PROFESSOR, NOW!" Xavier knew what to do. Using his mental powers, he probed the Juggernaut's mind, propping until it was done. Without warning, Juggernaut went down, making the ground shake as he hit the ground. The metallic skin reseeded off Rogue's body and she wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead.  
"Whew, that was tough." Rogue said.  
"NOOO!" Magneto yelled, anger rising in the crimson dressed man's face.  
"Acolite's, destroy them all!" Magneto howled. Colossus and Sabertooth leapt onto the ring, waiting for any X-man to attack suddenly a blast of cold hit the two warriors, and when they looked around they found that they were both encased in a block of ice. Everyone looked up to see Iceman, Firestar and Spider-man flying, sliding and swinging down from a ventilation shaft.  
"Sorry we're late, we miss the main event?" Spider-man joked.  
"Your day of reckoning will come, Xavier. You and all your X-men will pay, you have tainted yourselves by in listing a parasite of a creature into your mist, the humans will turn on you, just wait and AAAWWWW!" Magneto said just before receiving an optic blast from Cyclops, forcing him threw the wall behind him. Nightcrawler teleported over to Toad, finding the man unconscious and bleeding. Nightcrawler picked him up and teleported back to the group. Xavier saw Toad and decided it was time to leave.  
"Alright everyone, let's get out of here, before Colossus and Sabertooth break loose."

"Well Kurt and I were the one's who scared off those Friends of Humanity nuts and brought him to the institute in the first place!" one angry voice yelled out from the darkness, stirring Johnny slowly out of unconsciousness.  
"Well, ah was the one who saved him from the Juggernaut." a second voice yelled back, forcing Johnny to open his weary eyes.  
"Oh yeah well..." The first voice was interrupted.  
"Hey...what the hell does a guy have to do to get some sleep around here?" Johnny asked as he saw Rogue and Kitty arguing over his hospital bed.  
"Johnny, your okay!" Kitty said with a smile as she hugged Johnny in the bed.  
"Hey, hey, easy on the ribs." Johnny said with a cough.  
"Sorry, your lucky, your the first person I've known to take a hit from the Juggernaut and come too afterwards." Kitty said as she stood up.  
"So, how long have I been out?"  
"Bout three days." Rogue answered. Johnny nodded shaking off his weariness.  
"Um, Johnny, there's somthin' we gotta tell ya." Johnny's smile faded.  
"What's wrong?" Johnny asked.  
"I um. ah touched ya during that fight." Johnny's eyes widened in fear.  
"Then you know..."  
"Everything, our home, Eternia, everything, we both do." Johnny grew anger.  
"You told someone!"  
"Well, ah had to, it was to much ah had ta tell someone." Johnny wanted to yell more, but had no right to.  
"It's alright I guess, but then you know..."  
"That we're fictional characters in your world, yeah, but we talked to the Prof. about it and he thinks it's the same thing you think. This Stan Lee guy must have taped some kind of frequency where he could see or here what was happening in this world." Johnny sighed, not comfortable with the idea of someone knowing everything about his world.  
"It's okay, and I appreciate you telling me." Johnny said as he sat up in his bed, then moaned and lay back down.  
"When can I get out of this hole in the institute?" Kitty and rogue chuckled as they looked at each other. "What?"  
"Your in the Bayville city hospital." Johnny slapped his hand on his forehead.  
"Okay, then how long am I stuck in here than?"  
"Two weeks." Kitty said wearily.  
"TWO WEEKS!"

Hours past, and over the course of the day, all his friends had come to visit him, even toad had come in to say hi, and to let Johnny know that Xavier had invited him to join the institute, and to make sure Johnny knew it was all because of him. It was midnight when the last of his friends had left the room, and for the first time, he felt like he belonged somewhere. When Jean and Scott, the last group to visit, left the room and closed the door, there was a clapping coming from the other side of the room. Johnnie looked around and saw Zodack sitting in the chair there. Johnny laid back down, not looking forward to what the old man had to say.  
"What do you want?" Johnny asked simply.  
"Why to congratulate you. my superiors are so imprested with the job you've done, and since you will have another mission in this same reality, that they've decided to let you take a little time off, I've already talked to your Professor Xavier, and he was so impressed between your willingness to fight for the idea of bringing human's and mutants together, and our speech about the same idea to gambit, that he's willing to go as far as enrolling you for the first quarter in Bayville High." Johnny sat up.  
"Why did you do all this?" Johnny asked. Zodack simply stood up and walked over to the door.  
"In time, you'll find out." He said as he opened the door and walked out.

Three weeks had past, and Johnny had returned to the institute with a hero's welcome, but Johnny would have many new challenges ahead. Will Johnny continue to live in the lives of the hero's called the X-men, only time will tell.

the end for now…


End file.
